Market gains as election apprehension ends

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed a 8.33 per cent rise in market indices on Wednesday, its single biggest gain this year as Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election ending uncertainties.

Shops, banks and many corporations and offices closed the day at 2.30 pm on Monday and Tuesday with low vehicular movement in anticipation of the results.

The exchange had recorded a considerable decline in domestic investments because attributed to the elections. Details from the NSE showed that local investments dropped by N40.1bn at the end of February 2015.

According to the NSE, domestic investors conceded about 45.22 per cent of trading to foreign investors as domestic transactions decreased from 47.76 per cent to 27.39 per cent.

The institutional composition of the domestic market which was about 33.69 per cent at the end of January increased to 53.32 per cent at the end of February, whilst the retail composition decreased from 66.31 per cent to 46.68 per cent in the same period.

Nigeria’s credit-rating outlook was also cut to negative by Fitch Ratings citing falling oil prices and rising political risks amid tightly contested presidential and legislative elections.

Fitch affirmed Nigeria’s BB- rating, three steps below investment grade. Standard & Poor’s had lowered Nigeria one level to B+, four rungs below investment grade, on March 20.

The naira, now N199.05 a dollar, has fallen 18 percent in the past six months, the most among 24 currencies on the continent.

However, the All-Share Index increased by 2,635.32 basis points on Wednesday due to price gains by major equities to close at 34,380.14 from 31,744.82.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation added N903 million to close at N11.620 trillion from N10.717 trillion.

Nestle led the gainers’ table, adding N47 to close at N892 per share. Seplat came second with an added N31.50 to close at N429, while Forte Oil appreciated by N18.14, to close at N195.22 per share.

Conversely, Fidson topped the losers’ chart, losing k18 to close at N3.58 per share, while Okomu Oil dropped k09 to close at N29.75 per share.

Investors staked N10.93 billion on 881 million shares transacted in 4,611 deals.